Überregionale Public-Health-Akteure in Deutschland – eine Bestandsaufnahme und Kategorisierung

Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz - Akteure der öffentlichen Gesundheit (Public Health) tragen wesentlich zu Gesundheitsschutz, -förderung und...     

Orientation and mobility outcome measures

Despite orientation and mobility (O&M) being a significant factor determining quality of life of people with low vision or blindness, there are no gold standard measures or agreement on how to measure O&M performance. In the first part of this systematic review, an inventory of O&M outcome measures used by recent studies to assess the performance of orientation and/or mobility of adults with vision impairment (low vision and blindness) is presented. A wide variety of O&M outcome measures have been implemented in different fields of study, such as epidemiologic research and interventional studies evaluating training, assistive technology, vision rehabilitation and vision restoration. The most frequent aspect of outcome measures is efficiency such as time, distance, speed and percentage of preferred walking speed, followed by obstacle contacts and avoidance, and dis/orientation and veering. Other less commonly used aspects are target identification, safety and social interaction and self-reported outcome measures. Some studies employ sophisticated equipment to capture and analyse O&M performance in a laboratory setting, while others carry out their assessment in real-world indoor or outdoor environments. In the second part of this review, the appropriateness of implementing the identified outcome measures to assess O&M performance in clinical and functional O&M practice is evaluated. Nearly a half of these outcome measures meet all four criteria of face validity (either clinical or functional), responsiveness, reliability and feasibility and have the potential to be implemented in clinical or functional O&M practice. The findings of this review confirm the complicated and dynamic nature of O&M. Multiple measures are required in any evaluation of O&M performance to facilitate holistic assessment of O&M abilities and limitations of each individual.     

Coronary Artery Embolism: Two Case Reports and a Review of the Literature

Coronary embolism (CE) is an uncommon and unique cause of acute myocardial infarction. In this report, we review 216 cases of CE including 2 new cases from our institution. The mean patient age was 52.5 years and 62% of the patients were males. Chest pain was the most common presenting symptom followed by dyspnea, and the most commonly affected vessel was the left anterior descending artery. Leading etiologies of the embolus were atrial fibrillation, septic emboli, and iatrogenic causes. Treatment approaches varied with thrombus aspiration being used in 30% of cases. In-hospital mortality rate was 36% and 13% of the cases were complicated by cerebrovascular accident. CE is a unique pathology that leads to acute myocardial infarction. It portends a high mortality rate and requires a high level of suspicion as symptoms may be misleading. Further research is needed in order to improve recognition and management and to lower associated mortality.     

Human metabolism: pathways and clinical aspects

Metabolism describes the series of chemical reactions that are concerned with the provision of energy to biological systems. They may be divided into reactions involved in energy yield (catabolism: demand exceeds supply), and energy storage (anabolism: supply exceeds demand). Regulation of these pathways is critical for homeostasis, and derangements in metabolism are seen in a wide variety of pathological processes. Understanding metabolism is key to the treatment of many diseases, notably diabetes, as well as underpinning clinical nutritional support.